Project Director- Water -Bay Area, CA

GHD•San Francisco, CA

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

GHD's municipal business in Water and Transportation is experiencing accelerated growth, having doubled its municipal portfolio recently. This growth is attributed to strong client relationships, technical excellence, and a commitment to the communities served. To sustain this momentum, GHD has initiated a bold growth strategy to double its Transportation practice over the next four years. This expansion requires leaders who can secure work, ensure successful project delivery, and build enduring client confidence. The Project Director-Water- Bay Area position is a "seller-doer" role focused on building trust by aligning promises made during pursuits with successful execution, leading to repeat business. This position can be located in San Francisco, Oakland, or Concord, CA.

Requirements

Bachelor's or Master’s Degree in Engineering, Environmental Science, or similar.
Professional Engineer license preferred.
Minimum 10 years of experience in municipal or public sector project delivery and client relationship management.
Strong Seller/Doer experience with strong business development, proposal preparation and marketing skills.
Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.
Ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence at senior levels.
Proficiency in CRM tools (Salesforce in particular) and Microsoft Office Suite.
Strategic thinker with a client-centric mindset.
Strong understanding of municipal operations, governance, and procurement.
Experience in client engagement and business development, with a track record of building relationships across government, industry, and community stakeholders.

Responsibilities

Serve as a trusted advisor to existing clients through direct project leadership and consistent delivery performance.
Maintain a deep understanding of client priorities, funding realities, and community outcomes.
Represent client and community voices internally, shaping solutions and pursuits based on real delivery insight.
Build long-term client partnerships rooted in credibility, responsiveness, and results.
Lead or play a senior role in the delivery of key projects, ensuring outcomes align with client expectations and commitments made during pursuits.
Convert successful delivery into repeat work, expanded scope, and follow-on opportunities.
Identify growth opportunities emerging from active projects and ongoing client engagements.
Use delivery experience to inform strategy, pricing, risk assessment, and positioning.
Shape and lead pursuits where delivery experience, technical judgment, and client trust are critical differentiators.
Partner with Relationship Managers, Market Leads, and technical teams to pursue targeted opportunities.
Contribute to proposal strategy, messaging, and interviews with a focus on credibility and execution confidence.
Participate in contract negotiations with a clear understanding of delivery risk, resourcing, and outcomes.
Oversee and be accountable for project performance, including scope, schedule, budget, quality, and client satisfaction, in collaboration with the Project Manager.
Track and manage key performance indicators such as backlog, margin, and client health for assigned accounts.
Ensure compliance with applicable regulations, procurement requirements, and internal governance.
Provide clear communication and reporting to internal leadership on client performance and growth outlook.
Act as a subject matter expert in an area of technology, policy, regulation, or operational management for the team.
Maintain external accreditations and in-depth understanding of current and emerging external regulation and industry best practices through continuing professional development, attending conferences, and reading specialist media.
Ensure quality service and profitable business growth by managing a portfolio of complex customer relationships and/or a small team of account managers.
Develop and implement a relationship management plan for strategic, complex potential accounts to build key relationships at local and national levels.
Coordinate the engagement of own organization with the customer organization to ensure effective two-way flow of information and resolution of issues.
Consult with a range of customer representatives at different levels to identify the outcomes they require, introducing relevant internal specialists and utilizing their expertise to gather and analyze complex customer data, clarify medium- to long-term customer needs, and develop and agree to a specification of customer requirements.
Develop a personal network of senior managers within the business sector and represent the organization at business sector events.
Obtain market intelligence, promote the organization, and enhance its reputation.
Lead a cross-functional internal team (e.g., technical, commercial, and legal) to configure a complex tailored or bespoke product-and-services solution and associated contractual terms that meet the customer's mid- to long-term needs at a national/key operating-unit level.
Negotiate agreement with the customer and internally with commercial colleagues to ensure that customer requirements are met at an acceptable level of profitability and cash flow, or, alternately, review and authorize complex sales proposals from team members that deviate from standard terms, escalating issues to senior management where appropriate.
Monitor and review performance and behaviors within area of responsibility to identify and resolve noncompliance with the organization's policies and relevant regulatory codes and codes of conduct.
Develop internal marketing plans and work collaboratively with other departments to improve internal relationships and build strong external customer relationships.
Develop and implement relationship management plans for complex existing customer accounts to identify and build relationships with relevant decision-makers and influencers within the customer organization and to enable effective two-way flow of information and resolution of issues.
Manage ongoing relationships with identified customer segments to ensure their needs are met, providing themes, summary analyses, and recommendations for changes based on customer input.